#THE HINDU DISPOSITION OF PROPERTY ACT, 1916 
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##ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS 
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SECTIONS 
1. Short title and extent. 
2. Dispositions for the benefit of persons not in existence. 
3. Limitations and conditions. 
4. [Repealed.]. 
5. Application of this Act to the Khoja community. 

 
 
#THE HINDU DISPOSITION OF PROPERTY ACT, 1916 

##ACT NO. 15 OF 1916 

[28th September, 1916.] 

An Act to remove certain existing disabilities in respect of the power of disposition of 
property  by  Hindus  for  the  benefit  of  persons  not  in  existence  at  the  date  of  such 
disposition. 

  WHEREAS it is expedient to remove certain existing disabilities in respect of the power of disposition 
of  property  by  Hindus  for  the  benefit  of  persons  not  in  existence  at  the  date  of  such  disposition;  It  is 
hereby enacted as follows:— 

1. **Short title and extent.**—(1) This Act may be called the Hindu Disposition of Property Act, 1916. 

(2) It extends to the whole of India.[^1]

2. **Dispositions for the benefit of persons not in existence.**—Subject  to  the  limitations  and 
provisions specified in this Act, no disposition of property by a Hindu, whether by transfer inter vivos or 
by will, shall be invalid by reason only that any person for whose benefit it may have been made was not 
in existence at the date of such disposition. 

3. **Limitations and conditions.**—The limitations and provisions referred to in section 2 shall be the 
following, namely:— 

  (a) in  respect  of  dispositions  by  transfer  inter  vivos,  those  contained  in  4[Chapter  II]  of  the 
Transfer of Property Act, 1882 (4 of 1882), and 

(b) in respect of dispositions by will, those contained in  5[sections 113, 114, 115 and 116 of the 

Indian Succession Act, 1925 (33 of 1925)]. 

4. *[Failure  of  prior  disposition.]  Rep.  by the  Transfer  of  Property  (Amendment) 
Supplementary Act, 1929 (21 of 1929), s. 12. 

5. **Application of this Act to the Khoja community.**—Where  the State Government is  of 
opinion that the Khoja community in the State or any part thereof desire that the provisions of this 
Act should be extended to such community it may by notification in the Official Gazette, declare 
that  the  provisions  of  this  Act,  with  the  substitution  of  the  word  “Khojas”  or  “Khoja,”  as  the  case 
may  be,  for  the  word  “Hindus”  or  “Hindu”  wherever  those  words  occur,  shall  apply  to  that 
community  in  such  area  as  may  be  specified  in  the  notification,  and  this  Act  shall  thereupon  have 
effect accordingly. 



[^1]. The Act has been extended to Dadra and Nagar Haveli by Reg. 6 of 1963, s. 2 and Sch. 

In its application to Pondicherry, in section 1, after sub -section (2), the following shall be inserted—“Provided 
that nothing contained in this Act, shall apply to the Renoncants of the Union territory of Pondicherry. ”—(Vide 
Act 26 of 1968).